ALBUM REVIEW: Odious Descent Into Decay – Cerebral Rot
Death metal reaching back to the roots of the genre, drowned in reverb and delivering a sound that can only be described as “pure filth” has, wonderfully, become a movement in the international heavy music underground. With the likes of TOMB MOLD and GATECREEPER reaching new heights, this distinct branch of death metal has grown exponentially during the mid-late 2010s. New to the scene with their debut, Odious Descent Into Decay, Seattle’s CEREBRAL ROT aim to push themselves to the forefront of the movement.
Odious Descent Into Decay starts strong with its massive title track, building slowly into a putrid atmosphere and crushed under the weight of death/doom heaviness. Though a touch repetitive, here CEREBRAL ROT give the listener a taste of their brand of filth, dropping hook-laden riffs and murky lead passages all over the shop. A strong, if slightly generic, start. Unfortunately, Odious Descent Into Decay rarely reaches the heights of its eponymous opener.
Swamped In Festering Excrementia kicks off with a dirge-like riff that seems to never end before it really gets going, leading to a lovely little atonal flourish in the riffs that becomes one of the most memorable moments on the album. This is where the theme of Odious Descent Into Decay starts to become painfully obvious: for the few moments of objective brilliance in the riffs and creativity, there’s far, far too many bars of unmemorable caveman stomping. Reeking Septic Mass continues in the same vein – though it does pick up the pace a little quicker – and the band’s eponymous song (the first of the three tracks re-recorded from their demo) offers a more grinding assault, though still sadly forgettable.
It’s not until Sardonic Repentance that CEREBRAL ROT get back into the groove they found with the opener. Where, in much of Odious Descent Into Decay‘s filler, the slow, plodding pace feels uninteresting, here the funeral progression gives a very real sense of foreboding as the track builds up to its furious aggression. Primordial Soup Of Radioactive Sewage sees another burst of promise with the band forgoing the now predictable slow build, going straight for the jugular in a welcome change of pace, and Foul Stench Of Ruination ends the record on a relatively high note.
Under the guidance of patrons of extremity 20 Buck Spin, CEREBRAL ROT have the unenviable task of releasing their debut right between two of the label’s most exciting releases, and two of the genre’s best records so far – TOMB MOLD‘s Planetary Clairvoyance (read our review here) and WITCH VOMIT‘s Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave. Perhaps that offers a subconscious comparison, leaving Odious Descent Into Decay falling flat, or perhaps the quartet really do need a bit more time to carve out their own identity. Odious Descent Into Decay is a solid debut, with plenty to enjoy, however there is nothing here that hasn’t already been done before – and done better. A reasonable start, but CEREBRAL ROT will need to push themselves harder if they want to break into the big leagues.
Rating: 6/10
Odious Descent Into Decay is set for release August 16th via 20 Buck Spin.
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